


Jouska

by moonsaero



Category: K.A.R.D (Band)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Romance, Slice of Life, they are actually adorable, why is sowoo not rising
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-10-26 21:24:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10795029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsaero/pseuds/moonsaero
Summary: Everyone, from the fans to the other members, thought they were awkward with each other because Somin was such a senior, and yes, that was undeniably part of the reason. But Somin was also so . . . well, Jiwoo found it hard to speak when looking at her.And Jiwoo knew, without a doubt, that she didn’t want to ruin their chances as a group just because she couldn’t get her stupid emotions under control.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> jouska
> 
> n. a hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head—a crisp analysis, a cathartic dialogue, a devastating comeback—which serves as a kind of psychological batting cage where you can connect more deeply with people than in the small ball of everyday life, which is a frustratingly cautious game of change-up pitches, sacrifice bunts, and intentional walks.
> 
> \- John Koenig -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 170701: um ... my ao3 has been acting weird. it should be fine now though ... ??

Jiwoo hated group practices.

 

It was fine when she had still been a trainee under FNC Entertainment. Sure, she was basically waiting to get fucked over since the company’s hypothetical plans of debuting a new girl group were just that—hypothetical. But she was able to practice alone for the most part, given the privacy of a trainee that had no foreseeable future in a group, and life had been pretty great. Practice was a breeze, even the random group sessions, because when she got the chance to practice alone she was actually able to focus on herself, no other distractions fucking with her attention.

 

DSP Media was a whole new form of hell.

 

The company was great—debuting after only two months as a trainee? Jiwoo was sure that would have been a dream for many others, especially those who had been training for years. But DSP Media was home to a problem that Jiwoo had never had to deal with while under FNC Entertainment, and with the debut process came the one thing that Jiwoo now fucking despised: group practices.

 

It wasn’t the members—no, she shouldn’t lie. It _was_ the members. Just one in particular. And because of that, as counterintuitive as it may sound, Jiwoo preferred when not all of them were present at once, but such relieving moments were too rare for comfort.

 

When she returned from her lunch break, she hesitated in opening the practice room door, her hand jerking back from the handle to give her time to prepare herself. Her brain, though, rejected her hesitation, and with the inspirational thought of _fuck it_ running through her head like a mantra, she opened the door and walked in.

 

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw only two of the members in the practice room.

 

Not that Matthew and Taehyung were any better, what with their inability to see that Jiwoo was struggling not because of awkwardness or intimidation or whatever the fuck else was on their clueless minds, but at least they weren’t _her_. Besides, it would only have been more awkward if they realized . . . so maybe it was better that they were clueless. Jiwoo could live with their cluelessness—or at least she tried to convince herself that she could.

 

Clearly they’d been practicing for a bit already, since they were near the end of the song. Matthew waved to Jiwoo when he saw her walk in, saying some greeting in English, but Jiwoo was too tired to give a fuck and mentally translate what he said. Replying with a hello in Korean, she headed over to the far side of the room to set her bag down and take off her coat.

 

They practiced lightly, mostly to make sure their memory was in order. Practicing to refine the choreography and attend to all the slight details required all the members to be present, unfortunately.

 

Jiwoo didn’t keep track of how many times they went through the same sequences, ignoring the numerous times the guys stepped aside to check their phones, but eventually Matthew got up to turn off the music when it started again on repeat. “Did she reply?” he asked, turning to Taehyung.

 

Taehyung walked over to the couch to check his phone, and then shook his head. “Nope.”

 

“Then—”

 

“No, I’m not texting her _again_ , because I’ve already sent her about three messages in the last ten minutes and I think that’s weird enough.” He gestured to Matthew. “Why don’t _you_?”

 

“I’m pretty sure I’ve spammed her enough for a lifetime, I don’t think I should text her again until tomorrow at least,” Matthew said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced at the clock on the wall, which showed that they were all supposed to have been back from their individual lunch breaks—since sometimes they needed their privacy—almost forty minutes ago.

 

Jiwoo looked away, hoping her lack of attention would keep them from noticing her, but she could practically hear them shift their sights to her. _Fuck her life._

 

“Hey, Jiwoo,” Taehyung started. “Why don’t you te—”

 

Then the door opened, saving Jiwoo’s sanity, and a burst of fresh air swept into the practice room from the hallway. A figure wrapped in a coat and scarf entered backward, pushing the door open with her back, her arms busy holding a medium-sized box. Her honey brown hair was unmistakable, though, and Jiwoo’s relief was short-lived as she recognized who it was. _Shit_.

 

Her mind was already thinking through and overthinking every possible thing she could say while her heart was doing fucking somersaults in her chest. But the other girl didn’t even look at her, didn’t look at anyone in particular; she looked immediately to the clock, grimacing when she saw the time.

 

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, breathless. She held up the box in her hands, then, which was actually a cup holder with four large drinks. “But I brought coffee?”

 

And there was the distraction, the one problem that had never been present while Jiwoo had been under FNC Entertainment: Somin.

 

Jeon fucking Somin.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um so like why is this ship not sailing yet cuz their interactions (as minimal as they are rn) are actually adorable and in one of their v lives didn't they say they have girls crushes on each other i cri


	2. 2

Jiwoo gave the minimal reaction necessary to not be considered a stuck-up bitch. She smiled slightly, clapping her hands in excitement, avoiding any risk of eye contact by looking at the coffee.

 

Matthew and Taehyung were another story. Extra as always, they made their excitement clearly known, thanking Somin again and again and _patting her on the back why were they even fucking touching her_ —

 

Taking a steadying breath, Jiwoo forced herself to act natural and recollect her chill, ignoring the voice in her head that was saying _how the hell is it natural if you’re acting?_ She just had to keep up with the stereotype, the _role_ that the fans had given her, using it as a shield to tell her emotions and that inner voice to fuck off.

 

True to her I’m-having-none-of-your-shit character, she pushed past the two guys, who were still in awe at the coffee and hadn’t made a move to actually take it. Somin noticed, her face lighting up into that beau—fucking irritating smile of hers.

 

“Here, Jiwoo,” she said, picking up one of the cups and reaching out to hand it to Jiwoo.

 

A quick mental calculation revealed that it would’ve been much too obnoxious to reject her offer, so Jiwoo plastered what she hoped looked like an appreciative smile and not a grimace onto her face and mumbled a thanks. As she took the cup though, Matthew bumped into her shoulder—probably not even seeing her, as he was saying something to Taehyung—and pushed her forward.

 

She thanked whatever gods were watching over her that she didn’t trip and fall onto the floor, or worse onto Somin. But she did slightly lose her balance, and Somin, as annoyingly observing as she was, reacted immediately in the only way she could to avoid both a spill and a fall—she grabbed Jiwoo’s hand, the one holding onto the coffee cup.

 

If it had not been for the shock keeping Jiwoo frozen, she probably would’ve lost her grip on the coffee cup. She stayed in that position, staring, for a second too long to be considered natural, her eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. And then her brain, which conveniently took breaks when its presence was most necessary, returned to its functions and snapped her the fuck out of it.

 

Instead of thanking Somin—which was pretty unnecessary anyway because she had given Jiwoo a near fucking heart attack—she turned on Matthew.

 

Matthew, who seemed to be holding back a laugh because of Jiwoo’s expression. It took a good second for her to think of a response without profanity. “You _halfwit_ ,” she managed, but the sheer absurdity of it all made her crack a smile against her will, her glare at Matthew considerably weakening. And then the sound of Somin’s laughter filled the room, and Jiwoo couldn’t help but laugh too.

 

 

 

 

 

The best part of Jiwoo’s day was near the end, when they all parted ways and continued practice individually. Somin usually took this time to practice her vocals, while Jiwoo preferred to dance to get rid of some stress. But lately, even with their ‘Rumor’ comeback coming up, Jiwoo had been spending more and more of this time in the dorm room she shared with Somin, curled up on her own bed.

 

Though Jiwoo would never admit it out loud to anyone, she tended to spend a majority of this time on her phone, watching and rewatching the same video loop of whatever new song cover Somin uploaded on her Instagram.

 

Her voice was angelic. _She_ was an—

 

 _Back the fuck up_ , Jiwoo thought quickly. She thanked her brain for finally being on top of things and stopping her torturous thought processes before they started.

 

But today, with the Coffee Cup Incident fresh on her mind, she couldn’t get all the stray thoughts to stay in line. Eventually, the mental loop of that moment repeated one—or one hundred—times too many.

 

Jiwoo sighed loudly, disturbing the previous silence of the dorm room, and yanked her headphones out of her ears. She considered logging out of Instagram just for the sake of it, but she knew that she’d log back in within a few minutes and didn’t want to put herself through even more. Instead, she just tossed her phone to the side of the bed and rolled over so that she was on her back, staring at the ceiling.

 

Counting the cracks would’ve been a good distraction if there had been any cracks to count. _Fuck DSP and their new dorms and all their care for us, I fucking hate it all._

 

But despite her best intentions to pay attention to something else, _anything_ else, she could still feel the warmth of Somin’s hand on hers. Jiwoo groaned.

 

“Why?” she said out loud, directing her frustration toward the ceiling. The ceiling, naturally, didn’t respond. “Why can’t you just fuck off?”

 

Silence.

 

“Go on—fuck right out the door, okay? God, you’re so—ugh!” Jiwoo turned around, burying her head into her pillow. She hated everything and almost everyone.

 

She could imagine how confused Somin would be, if she entered the dorm then to find Jiwoo like this. _“Jiwoo?”_ she would ask, her voice full of that worry that Jiwoo loved because it was the first time someone had showed so much concern for her yet hated since it made it hard to keep herself in check. _“You all right?”_

 

“I’m fine,” Jiwoo said, out loud again, her voice muffled by her pillow.

 

 _“You don’t_ sound _fine. Come on, you can tell me . . . I won’t judge you for anything, I swear!”_

 

“Fuck. _Off_.”

 

_“Oh. Um, okay. I’ll just—”_

 

“No, stop, just stop,” Jiwoo said, turning back around. Her imagination was too good at imitating Somin’s voice, and Jiwoo’s heart ached at the hurt that was evident after Jiwoo had told her to fuck off.

 

And then Jiwoo sat up in bed and shook her head. “What the hell,” she whispered, and she let out a small laugh of disbelief. She was talking to herself, imagining herself talking to Somin. Fuck, fuck, fuck, what had her life come to? She considered banging her head against the wall, but then decided that shaking it violently one more time was a better option. Dizziness was easier to explain than bruising, but she felt that if it got worse then the wall would be the answer.

 

How she had survived these last few months was already a mystery to Jiwoo, but as she did often as of late, she wondered again how she was supposed to keep dealing with this. And it would only be worse after their official de—no, she wouldn’t go down that line of thought yet, not until she was okay with fucking up her sanity. The relative expectedness of the present was much more appealing than the unclear possibilities of the future . . . especially since she didn’t know how much her emotional stability could be tested before it broke.

 

The last thing Jiwoo remembered thinking before falling asleep early was that it was rather unfortunate, knowing it was already faltering after only a few months.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh the reception for this story already has been amazing, sowoo is so loved and it makes me so happy!! :) RISE SOWOO RISE


	3. 3

That weekend, all forms of luck were against Jiwoo. Both Matthew and Taehyung were out filming for some kind of show, but Jiwoo couldn’t get herself to give enough fucks to ask for details. After all, she had more pressing matters to deal with, like how she was supposed to deal with the whole day at the dorm with Somin. Alone.

 

Fuck.

 

“They’re filming for Tour Avatar, right?” Somin’s sudden question caught Jiwoo, who was trying not to drown in the hellhole of her own thoughts, off guard.

 

Jiwoo cleared her throat. “Um . . . yeah?”

 

“You don’t know, do you?”

 

“. . . Yeah.”

 

Somin shook her head slightly, but she was smiling. Her eyes scrunched up when she smiled, basically disappearing into lines, and it was hard to look away since it was such a heartwarming sight.

 

But Jiwoo had to focus. And not on Somin, because that was a disaster just waiting to happen.

 

“I wonder what they’ll be doing . . .” Somin trailed off as she continued flipping through a few channels. They were sitting on couch in the entertainment room, deciding that watching TV was a good a way as any to pass their free time. Of course, Jiwoo had made sure they were sitting on the opposite ends, and thankfully, since the couch wasn’t that big, it wasn’t that obvious. “I hope we all get to go on variety shows in the future.”

 

Jiwoo nodded noncommittally. Variety shows? Fuck, if that’s what they had to do after debut—wait, of course they’d have to do that after debut, for fuck’s sake. It was part of being an idol . . . she’d have to get her act together, because if the fans didn’t notice the true reason for her awkwardness now, through their few interactions on V LIVE, then they’d _definitely_ notice on a variety show. Oh god, what if even the _host_ points it out, how would she—

 

“You know, wouldn’t it be cool if _we_ got to go on a show? Just the two of us?”

 

Jiwoo almost choked on air. “ _What_?”

 

Somin’s smile wavered. “Or . . . or not, if you’re uncomfortable.”

 

 _Oh my_ god _, can she_ not _fucking do that, I’m—_

 

Jiwoo had to resist the urge to clutch her heart in pain. She was the younger one, for fuck’s sake! It should have been the other way around, with Somin worrying about hurting Jiwoo . . . but of course, that could never happen, since it was Jiwoo that was hurting herself by not controlling her feelings.

 

Instead, she amended, “No, no, that was just s-surprising, that’s all.” Jiwoo looked to the TV, where Somin had found another random variety show. “That’d be pretty cool.”

 

At that, Somin’s smile was back, and Jiwoo felt herself relax. “Right?” she said, the excitement in her voice making Jiwoo excited too. And then Jiwoo remembered just what was being suggested and calmed down instantly.

 

This was too stressful. This was probably the first time they’d been alone together since the Valentine’s Day prank, and while that had been torturous enough, at least Somin’s attention was on the guys. This time Somin’s attention was on Jiwoo, and it was fucking with Jiwoo’s mind. She hated it.

 

“Do you have any show in mind?” Somin asked, looking over to Jiwoo.

 

Jiwoo hesitated, and her brain decided that it was the perfect time to fuck her over, and the show We Got Married popped into her head.

 

Her eyes widened fractionally. _What the actual fuck?_ Blinking a few times, hoping it would clear her mind, Jiwoo racked her brain for a more appropriate answer. “Maybe . . . Running Man?”

 

Somin nodded in agreement. “That might actually be possible though, right? Since it’s not getting cancelled anymore . . . it would be really fun,” she said, and Jiwoo could hear the hint of longing in her voice. That confirmed it: Running Man was on their bucket list. Jiwoo would talk to their manager if it came to that.

 

Then Somin turned so that she was sitting facing Jiwoo. Jiwoo could swear her eyes had a sparkle—and then she almost slapped herself for being the cheesiest fucking idiot she knew. But Jiwoo was in a setting with another human—a particularly important one at that—and therefore could not risk embarrassing herself.

 

Somin tapped her chin thoughtfully. “We would probably go to that as a group though, then if there were teams or something we’d have Matthew and Taehyung, right?”

 

“Yeah . . . probably. For something like Running Man we should all go,” Jiwoo said, grateful that the topic had shifted from just the two of them.

 

“Especially since I suck at sports and all,” Somin said, frowning slightly. But meeting Jiwoo’s eyes, she grinned. “But the guys would be good at that sort of thing, right?”

 

Jiwoo felt the disappointment wash over her, but she tried to keep it off her face. Luckily, Somin kept going, imagining all the possible things they could do, all the hypotheticals and what ifs, and as hard as it was for Jiwoo to listen, it was even harder to tell her to stop.

 

Jiwoo knew she was being bipolar as fuck, but she couldn’t help it. She hated it when Somin talked about others like that, because it fucking tugged at her heart that Somin would never talk about her that way. But when Somin _did_ talk about her, Jiwoo hated it even more because she knew that in the end, it could never be in the way she wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually can't wait to see kard on variety shows like running man and weekly idol i really hope that happens


	4. 4

It was still running through her mind— _We Got Married._ Why she would even think of that show in the first place was beyond comprehension.

 

Jiwoo ran a hand through her hair, wondering if pulling at it would help clear her mind.

 

_No, but it’ll fucking hurt like a—_

 

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had to calm down, and think _rationally_ so that near-incidents like this could be avoided in the future. She sat up straighter on her bed, shifting so that she was sitting pretzel-style and facing the wall that the bed was against. It was their individual practice time again, and with a heavy heart Jiwoo had politely declined Somin’s offer for them to practice together. There was nothing she wanted to do than spend more time with Somin, but that also opened up too many opportunities to fuck up.

 

Jiwoo wondered how normal people dealt with . . . with . . . crushes. That’s what it was, right? As much as she hated to admit it, that’s what it was—a crush. A crush that was going to fuck up their chances of debuting, if she continued to act weird around Somin. Fans were already observing that the girls didn’t seem as comfortable with each other as they were with the guys or as the guys were with each other.

 

But it was only to be expected. Matthew and Taehyung had been dancers for DSP Media before, so they’ve known each other. And Somin was also under DSP, and Jiwoo could swear that Matthew and Taehyung had been back up dancers during Somin’s performance of “Problem” on KARA Project, but she never remembered to ask when she was with all of them. But the point was: all of them had known each other before. It was just Jiwoo, who had dropped in from FNC Entertainment, that was the odd one out.

 

 _Stop with the fucking pity party_ , Jiwoo thought to herself. They never made her feel like the odd one out—she integrated pretty quickly. Actually, she’d say that even she and Somin were pretty comfortable with each other, until Jiwoo realized that she had a fucking crush on her.

 

She remembered when she first realized it officially. It was during their Comeback Countdown Live for ‘Don’t Recall’. The question had been, “Who do you think is the coolest member?” They had to lift up the face signs of the members to answer.

 

Matthew, on the more serious extreme, had held up the signs for all the members, while Taehyung, on the other, more humorous extreme, had held up his own sign. Jiwoo had chosen the other three members as the coolest, since they were all cool in their own ways.

 

Somin, though, had surprised them all, especially Jiwoo, by holding up none other than Jiwoo’s sign. Even now, two whole fucking months later, just thinking about it made Jiwoo’s heart stutter.

 

“There’s a reason why I chose Jiwoo,” Somin had said, briefly glancing sideways at Jiwoo before looking forward toward the camera to explain. She still addressed Jiwoo, even though she wasn’t looking at her. “You have this girl crush aura . . . it’s not an easy thing to have.” And then she turned to make eye contact, and the hesitation disappeared from her eyes, replaced by an intense earnestness. “I’m jealous. I have a girl crush on you, Jiwoo.”

 

It had taken all of Jiwoo’s will power to not smile like a stupid little shit, because deep inside she knew that Somin’s girl crush only went so far. “Ah, well . . . you’re like that too . . . I have one on you too,” she had said quietly, trying to downplay just how much this was affecting her.

 

Somin had giggled then. She held up one hand in the popular rock concert gesture, sticking up her pinky and pointer finger. “Yo,” she said cutely, and it was anything but girl crush material but holy fuck Jiwoo found it hard to breath.

 

“Yo,” Jiwoo mimicked, laughing at how adorable Somin had sounded, and luckily the other members joined in imitating Somin so that Jiwoo didn’t draw even more attention to herself. She had felt considerably happier the rest of the V LIVE, and she had had to resist the urge to smile to herself whenever she mentally replayed Somin’s response.

 

And ta-da, Jiwoo suddenly had a name for why she could barely make eye contact with Somin—she had a crush on her.

 

Fuck her life.

 

Jiwoo exhaled loudly. Sitting on bed and staring at the wall was doing nothing.

 

And right then, she decided that she was going to do _something_ , dammit, because the last thing she wanted to do was fuck up their chances as K.A.R.D before they even began.

 

She took out her phone, and that’s how Somin found her when she came back—hunched over her phone, her hair over her face as a curtain-like shelter.

 

“Hey, Ji—”

 

“Somin!” Jiwoo said quickly, too quickly. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck—_

 

Somin laughed. She always laughed, and Jiwoo never complained because she liked her laugh. As she tossed her bag on the floor and sat on her own bed, which was directly across from Jiwoo’s, she said, “You seem hyper for being up this late. You know, you’re usually asleep by the time I come back.”

 

_Yes. Do you expect me to talk to you just so I can say something awkward and regret my whole life? No thank you._

 

But now was not the time for such thoughts.

 

“Um, yeah, I . . . I was wondering . . . are you free tomorrow?”

 

Somin looked confused. “Of course. It’s Sunday.”

 

_Stupid question, what a stupid question—_

 

“Okay, yeah, I knew that.” Jiwoo gave a slight laugh, hoping it didn’t sound as nervous as she thought it did. _Okay, deep breath._ Somin was still looking at her, and Jiwoo could feel her palms sweating. “Since the guys will be gone tomorrow too, I was wondering—well, I just—” _Fuck it_. “Do you like ice cream?”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAI I'M SORRY FOR BEING MIA WITH THIS ONE i originally wasn't planning on updating (i still have to study for two exams tomorrow what is my life rn) but i just had to write this scene down - i love awkward jiwoo
> 
> also sowoo slayed their cover of side to side during their concerts they are both queens oh my god- how do people choose a bias in this group?? like??? i bias the whole group??


	5. 5

Their manager had seemed surprised that the girls were going out together, but he didn’t show any of that surprise by the time they were in the car. If Jiwoo had paid more attention she might have noticed that he seemed almost _happy_.

 

He dropped them off in front of an ice cream shop near the mall. Though it was a relatively popular spot, K.A.R.D’s lack of domestic popularity ensured that no one recognized them, especially when they were without their full makeup and stage outfits. That was one of the advantages of being such a new, practically unknown group—being out in public was still a breeze.

 

“What flavor do you like?” Somin asked her as they waited in line.

 

Unfortunately, Jiwoo had been paying more attention to Somin—and how she could still look so beautiful in just a white t-shirt—than to the menu, so she said the first flavor on her mind. “Probably . . . chocolate?”

 

“Ah, that’s a good choice. I think I’ll go with vanilla . . . you can’t go wrong with that, right?” she said, her eyes bright.

 

_Stop. Staring._

 

Though a second too late to be natural, Jiwoo smiled in agreement, not trusting herself to speak quite yet.

 

 

 

 

 

“Actually, I think they went wrong with vanilla,” Somin said a few minutes later, after they had found a table near the outer edge of the shop. She scrunched up her face in disgust. “Isn’t ice cream supposed to be sweet?”

 

Jiwoo laughed—she couldn’t help it, Somin’s expression was so funny—and Somin rolled her eyes. “I’m serious!” she said. “Here, want to try some?”

 

And Jiwoo’s laughter stopped as soon as it started because suddenly Somin was offering her ice cream and suddenly Jiwoo realized how much this seemed like a date.

 

 _Nope. Do_ not _overthink it. Just accept the ice cream. Accept. The fucking. Ice cream._

 

Heart pounding nervously in her chest, Jiwoo schooled her expression into something resembling ‘pleasant’ and not ‘terrified’ before leaning forward to accept the offer of ice cream. She didn’t have to worry about maintaining her expression, or even controlling her emotions, because soon the flavor hit her.

 

“What the fuck was that?” she said in disgust, forgetting to censor herself.

 

Somin didn’t mind; she burst out laughing just like Jiwoo did earlier. “I told you, didn’t I?”

 

“That can’t even be ice cream,” Jiwoo said as she quickly ate a spoon of her own chocolate ice cream, which actually tasted like ice cream. “It was just . . . ice.”

 

Somin nodded, and then glanced around the shop. “I think I’ll . . . throw this away, then,” she said after noticing that everyone was occupied in their own business. It may have seemed offensive, throwing away an almost untouched cup of ice cream, and Somin was just too fucking kind.

 

Jiwoo knew that she would have marched right back to the counter and demanded a fucking refund (at the same time, she didn’t want to fuck up their image even before they debuted, so maybe she wouldn’t have done that after all).

 

But then Jiwoo glanced down at her own ice cream, still nearly full, and frowned. As Somin got up, Jiwoo surprised herself by speaking up. “Hey, wait, keep your spoon.”

 

Somin looked at her, confused. “I’m not ordering another one, that’d be a waste—”

 

“No, I mean—you can share mine.” Somin looked reluctant, but Jiwoo wasn’t about to waste the effort she had already put in to make it this far. “I wouldn’t be able to eat this much anyway, and besides, we’re preparing for a comeback, right? Isn’t it better to avoid too much junk food?”

 

Somin sighed, but when she looked back at Jiwoo she was smiling, and it was fucking _sad_ that Jiwoo couldn’t remember feeling as accomplished in life as she did right then. _Holy fuck you need more help than you thought, don’t you?_

 

 

 

 

 

It was surprising, how easily they were able to carry a conversation after Jiwoo got past her awkwardness. Then again, Jiwoo had always known in the back of her mind that it was her awkwardness fucking things up in the first place.

 

They emptied the ice cream quickly, without even thinking about it, and Jiwoo felt a pang of sadness that the day had come to an end already. It wasn’t even lunch time yet, but Jiwoo knew that nothing else that day would compare to this; she might as well as well call it a day.

 

Jiwoo was about to text their manager that they were done—that her life was basically complete—when Somin grabbed her hand to stop her. Jiwoo was so, _so_ fucking glad that she hadn’t dropped her phone; she could never have hated Somin for it, but she knew Somin would have felt beyond guilty.

 

“Wait, don’t call him yet. We’ve barely been here for half an hour.”

 

Jiwoo was sure that her confusion was showing on her face. “But then . . . what do y—”

 

“We’re right next to the mall, Jiwoo,” Somin said, pouting slightly, and keeping a hold on Jiwoo’s hand she gently pulled the younger girl toward the door. “Why don’t we go, I don’t know, explore?”

 

As if Jiwoo could say no to that.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry, so much work, even in the summer (rip). but i just- I NEEDED MORE SOWOO ASAP so i did this ... i need to find more sowoo stories istg WE NEED MORE I TELL YOU


End file.
